A few days ago I did a brief preview on where the top men will be competing this summer. I didn’t add the women for the very reason that the top tier simply don’t play many of US Open lead-up events. As evidence this morning, Wimbledon winner Serena Williams has announced that she will miss all summer events prior to the US Open because of foot surgery.

Serena won Wimbledon two weeks ago, then played an exhibition in Belgium against Kim Clijsters that Thursday. Somewhere in between the World No. 1 cut her upper right foot on glass apparently at a restaurant. Now the mysterious injury, which already forced her out of World Team Tennis, requires surgery ending her hopes playing before the US Open.

“I’m so upset that I won’t be able to play in the upcoming events because of this foot surgery,” said Williams in a statement. “Thank you for all of your support and I can’t wait to get back on the courts.”

Serena is still scheduled to play at the US Open but she will miss the Istanbul, Montreal and Cincinnati tennis events.

And we’ve seen this routine in women’s tennis before: skip the smaller events, focus on the Slams.

But now that she’s having surgery the injury must be (somewhat) serious. I just hope it was worth it for her to stay in Europe after Wimbledon to participate in that Belgian exo. Remember she only played as a fill in for Justine Henin (Gulp!) who hurt her shoulder at Wimbledon. Oh the irony.

4 Comments for Serena Williams to Undergo Foot Surgery, Will Miss Summer Hardcourts, OK for US Open

Fot Says:

I hope she’ll be ok for the US Open. She has proven in the past that she doesn’t even need to play the upcoming tournaments to be ready for the slams. At this stage in her career – I don’t care if she plays the smaller tournaments or not. I want to see her at her best in the slams where they actually make or break you!

You could probably put an asterisk against almost every Grand Slam winner down the years. Justine Henin was the world number one when she retired so every winner after that should have an asterisk against their name.

Going way back to Margaret Court with 24 Grand Slam singles titles. 11 were at the Australian Open when most of the top players did not compete.